How long does an insurer have to pay a clean claim in Tennessee?

21 days for clean claims submitted electronically, under Tennessee's prompt-pay law (Tenn. Code Ann. § 56-7-109). Late payments owe interest at 1% a month.

Do prompt-pay laws apply to every plan?

No. Tennessee's § 56-7-109 doesn't apply to self-funded ERISA plans, Medicare or TennCare, which has its own rule (§ 56-32-126). Owed leaves these findings out for payers you've marked self-funded or government, and marks them unconfirmed until you confirm a payer's plans are fully insured.

Prompt-pay interest.

Prompt-pay interest is the interest a payer owes by law when it pays a clean claim late. In Tennessee, clean electronic claims are due within 21 days, with interest at 1% a month after that (Tenn. Code Ann. § 56-7-109).

Why it happens

Missing interest can be easy to overlook when reviewing individual payments. Owed totals eligible shortfalls by remittance so you can review one interest request per payment.

How Owed checks

01
For commercial claims, Owed reads the date the payer received each claim and the date it paid it, and skips claims submitted more than 90 days after the service.
02
If payment came more than 21 days after receipt, it computes interest at 1% a month for the days late, minus any interest the payer already paid.
03
A late payment alone doesn't prove the claim was clean; the payer may have sent a not-clean notice within 21 days. Check any notice against § 56-7-109(b)(1)(B)(iii).
04
Because interest per claim is small, it totals the interest per payment, so there's one request per remittance instead of dozens.
05
This statute doesn't apply to self-funded ERISA plans, Medicare or TennCare, which has its own rule (§ 56-32-126). You tell Owed how each payer's plans are funded: it leaves the finding out for payers you've marked self-funded or government, says so when you've confirmed a payer is fully insured, and marks it unconfirmed otherwise.

What you'll see

How many claims were late and the longest delay
The interest owed and the statute

Rules check your remittances against the rates, settings and history available. Each finding shows its evidence; AI does not decide the result.

What to do

Ask the payer for the statutory interest, citing the prompt-pay statute, the claim receipt dates and the payment date.

Questions

How long does an insurer have to pay a clean claim in Tennessee?: 21 days for clean claims submitted electronically, under Tennessee's prompt-pay law (Tenn. Code Ann. § 56-7-109). Late payments owe interest at 1% a month.
Do prompt-pay laws apply to every plan?: No. Tennessee's § 56-7-109 doesn't apply to self-funded ERISA plans, Medicare or TennCare, which has its own rule (§ 56-32-126). Owed leaves these findings out for payers you've marked self-funded or government, and marks them unconfirmed until you confirm a payer's plans are fully insured.